Yesterday’s game was all sorts of crazy, and I think that’s best illustrated by the fact that the following sentence is a perfectly valid, accurate arrangement of words: Barry Zito singled off Justin Verlander in the fourth inning to give the Giants a 1-0 lead in Game One of the World Series. Let’s see here…
Barry Zito started Game One of the World Series for the Giants.
Barry Zito outpitched Justin Verlander, Best Pitcher On The Planet™.
Barry Zito got a hit off Justin Verlander.
With some assistance from the defense, Zito kept the Tigers at bay for 5.2 innings. Zito’s last two starts have been crucial, and he’s delivered. It’s not a matter of whether Zito has earned his $126M with these performances, though these last two starts have definitely brought that question to light, and it’s one worth pondering. I mean, if he ends up having played an integral role in bringing the Giants another championship, does that make up for the years of mediocrity?
For me, though, these last two starts have had sort of an opposite effect, in that I’ve been able to forget about the Zito of the last six years — you know, the one that was left off the postseason roster in 2010 — and everything he’s come to represent. His last two outings have brought pure, unequivocal joy. I’ll say, I came into both outings with the lowest of expectations. I anticipated that we’d all see the Zito that showed up in the NLDS. He didn’t. Baseball. Wonderful, wonderful baseball.
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And then there’s Pablo Sandoval. Between July 13 and September 18, a span of 43 games and 180 plate appearances, Sandoval did not homer once. For two months, when Sandoval was on the field and healthy, the Giants got a .331 slugging percentage. They saw Ryan Theriot-esque production out of third base for most of the second half up until the final two weeks of the season; but Sandoval turned it on at the end of the year, and he’s really come alive in the postseason.
Last night, Sandoval took the toughest pitcher in baseball deep on an 0-2 count. Then he took him deep again in the fourth inning. And in the fifth, he took Al Alburquerque deep. Three homers, two of ‘em off the reigning AL MVP, each of them in a different part of the strike zone, and this happened at AT&T Park — where there hadn’t been a three-homer game in more than a decade. (Oh, and by the way, Sandoval singled in his fourth and final at-bat).
Only three other players, throughout history, have homered three times in a World Series game. Babe Ruth did it twice. Reggie Jackson did it. And Albert Pujols did it last year. That’s three Hall of Famers right there. And Pablo Sandoval.
Oh yeah, and two of the homers landed in center field. Sandoval only had two such homers during the regular season. The other homer was opposite field. Sandoval had no such homers during the regular season. His timing at the plate looks perfect, and that means he’s a force to be reckoned with.
What a performance.
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Hunter Pence struck out three times last night. He swung and missed seven times, which is the equivalent of a month for Marco Scutaro. He’s struggling mightily, and after 300 plate appearances with the Giants, it’s fair to be concerned. We can save this talk for after the World Series, but Pence is going to make a good chunk of money next season, and there’s been a frightening resemblance to Aaron Rowand in a lot of the at-bats he takes. Color me worried.
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Can we have a moratorium on the Melky Cabrera talk for the next week?
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The Giants are three victories away from winning the World Series. Three to go. That’s it. And then they’re champions. Heh.

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